As I stated in my PC build located in the link below I'll be building a Desk/Cabinet for the PC. 

I'll be repurposing a "White Clad" Ice Box type end table/night stand like the one below as the base for this Desk/Cabinet. The photo is of one listed on ebay, I have to go down to my storage tomorrow and get the one I have. It is in a bit rougher shape than the one in this photo.

 

 

I'll be doing this up similar to a Secretary Desk with an upper section that will house the monitor. I'll be using parts from one of those Oak Toilet Toppers along with other bits and pieces along the way. I don't work from any plans, simply just wing it, and figure this will look good here, that will look good there etc. I've also got some real neat cast Brass Brackets that will get incorporated into this build. I've been working on what will be the top (Monitor) door along with the PC build to get this started.

 

Here are a couple of photos of the door before I got started on it. It is the worst shape piece of this build, but it came from a junked "White Clad" cart, and matches the door on the "Ice Box" 

 

 

These are some really cheaply built doors in that the frames are simply attached to a 1/8" plywood back which also serves as the door panels. The veneer on this door is in real poor shape, but the plywood is still rather solid. Below are a few photos of the door as work progresses on it.  

 

This is an edge photo of the door you might be able to make out the plywood back.

 

 

The frame members on these doors are not spliced together in any way, and I added braces to the rear side of the door to keep it stiff, and straight. the edges kept wanting to bend away from being straight with the other frame members.

 

 

The door is looking much better then when I started with it. Almost half of the veneer has flaked away, and I'm not sure if I'll re veneer it, or cover it with some Plexiglass Mirror that I have.

 

 

That's about it for today on this build.

 

Until next time. 

 

Edited January 5, 20197 yr by Larry Buskirk

This is certainly gonna be an AWESOME rig!!!

Gonna be a perfect companion to the PC. Looking forward to following along.

ya done yet???

1 hour ago, Stick486 said:

ya done yet???

Rome was not built in a day.

 

11 hours ago, Stick486 said:

ya done yet???

Ya Right! 

10 hours ago, Woodbutcherbynight said:

Rome was not built in a day.

 

Thanks Curtis,

This might not be Rome, but I'm working as fast as my Band-Aided fingers will allow me to. 

They are so dried out from sanding that "Working Hands" can't keep them from cracking, and bleeding.

Following this build. 

13 hours ago, Larry Buskirk said:

This might not be Rome, but I'm working as fast as my Band-Aided fingers will allow me to. 

I work off the I have all the time I care to take attitude.  My wife only sees the shop as the place where the magic happens.  After that nobody else to worry about.  

Saturday, and Sunday progress report.

 

Yesterday I got down to my storage and retrieved my lower cabinet. 

Following are a few photos of the cabinet.

 

 

The left front edge has a piece broken out, but what do you want for free? I was going to cut the rounded edge off anyway, so this didn't bother me.

 

 

The top has some kind of an oil stain that I'll have to remove. 

 

 

I did cut the front edge off, but failed to take a photo. I'll take one for the next posting.

The cabinet needs a bit of work, and I'll get photos of the rest of it tomorrow.

You'll be able to see how cheaply built these cabinets are, but I like the basic style of them.

I'll be adding trim, and modifying the cabinet for printer storage etc.

 

That's all for now.

 

Until next time. 

 

 

 

 

New stuff is put together with some glue.  Looks like hot melt, acts like it when I heated it up and took it apart for the neighbor.  Cabinet was too big, so we took apart and fixed that small problem.  I used SCREWS to put it back together.

12 hours ago, Woodbutcherbynight said:

New stuff is put together with some glue.  Looks like hot melt, acts like it when I heated it up and took it apart for the neighbor.  Cabinet was too big, so we took apart and fixed that small problem.  I used SCREWS to put it back together.

These are put together with some type of carpenters glue, and 1/4" crown staples.

It doesn't dissolve like Elmer's, or Titebond II will with water. you have to basically scrape it loose.

A lot of plywood with real wood for trim.

Todays progress report.

 

Due to an almost all day rain I couldn't do much woodcutting outside today, so I worked on disassembling the "Ice Box" cabinet to prep it for the modifications I will be doing to it.

As I stated earlier these are some rather cheaply built cabinets as will be revealed in some of the following photos. The fact that they are cheaply built makes it much easier to disassemble the cabinet.

 

First off I removed the back of the cabinet, which is made of more of the 1/8" plywood. It was simply secured with 1/4" crown staples.

I may just use this plywood to repair what will be the upper (Monitor) door.

 

 

The bottom shelf is also made from the 1/8" plywood, and was barely secured to the mounting cleats with more 1/4" crown staples. It was loose because the staples weren't holding into the 3/4" plywood cleats. I glued and clamped the shelf to the cleats after removing the staples, some of which were not even driven into the cleats.

 

 

I tried both Mineral Spirits, and Oxy-Clean to remove the oil stains from the cabinet top without much success.

Not a big deal really as I decided to add a keyboard tray that will slide out from under the PC.

This I made from one of the slide out trays from my Dads old Oak desk that was in real bad shape.

I'm sure he would like seeing at least part of it live on.

 

 

I needed to cut it down to fit this cabinet which removed the front grab slot that was located on the bottom. I wanted to save the cut out for cord passage room.

The veneer around the grab slot was broken out anyway. I managed to get a few rain free moments, so quickly ran out to cut the tray down.

 

 

I used the one remaining cabinet side trim molding to make another grab handle to slide the tray out.

It was simply attached to the cabinet side with three 1/4" crown staples and no glue so was easy to remove. 

 

 

The side trim was originally located here on the cabinet side. I'll be covering the arched side cut outs with the drawer front from the same cabinet that I salvaged the upper door from.

This will help to hide the missing veneer on the 3/4" plywood cabinet sides. It will also help with getting the plywood more stable as it has started separating due to having gotten wet at some point. The drawer front matches the moldings used elsewhere on the cabinet, as well as the one I used for the keyboard tray. I'll be ripping it into two pieces so I can do both sides.

 

 

This is how the keyboard tray looks after attaching the old cabinet side trim molding for the grab edge.

I'll be mounting it with drawer slides salvaged from an old computer desks keyboard tray.

The PC will then sit on the keyboard tray housing after it is completed.

 

 

A top view of the keyboard tray.

 

 

That's about it for today.

 

Until next time. 

 

 

 

Edited January 8, 20197 yr by Larry Buskirk

Rain aside you got a lot done.

On 1/6/2019 at 8:04 PM, Larry Buskirk said:

but I like the basic style of them.

I do too...already a good start headed to the look you want.

3 hours ago, Larry Buskirk said:

I tried both Mineral Spirits, and Oxy-Clean to remove the oil stains from the cabinet top without much success.

Try some Peroxide mixed with Simple Green or LA's Finest. I have used Brake Kleen before on some tools, but not furniture. Might give Acetone a try.

 

Larry, you are the King of salvage, re-claim, re-purpose re-use... I'm liking where this is going!

 

Looks like the cat was lending a hand 

1 hour ago, lew said:

Looks like the cat was lending a hand

Quality Control Inspector.  My wife has many to check my work.

 

13 hours ago, Woodbutcherbynight said:

Rain aside you got a lot done.

Thanks Curtis,

I did a lot of sanding, searching for more parts, etc. while doing what I did get accomplished.

11 hours ago, Grandpadave52 said:

I do too...already a good start headed to the look you want.

Try some Peroxide mixed with Simple Green or LA's Finest. I have used Brake Kleen before on some tools, but not furniture. Might give Acetone a try.

 

Larry, you are the King of salvage, re-claim, re-purpose re-use... I'm liking where this is going!

 

Thanks Dave,

I forgot to mention the peroxide, charcoal lighter fluid, and a couple of other things that I tried. The peroxide did a good job of raising the grain, but didn't touch the oil stain. 

I'm now in the process of adding a keyboard tray that will cover it. This will also give me a way of mounting the upper hutch part of the Desk/Cabinet.

11 hours ago, lew said:

Looks like the cat was lending a hand 

Lew,

The cats are always trying to lend a hand. One tries to swipe my tools, parts etc., while another figures I put the items there for a sleeping spot.

9 hours ago, Woodbutcherbynight said:

Quality Control Inspector.  My wife has many to check my work.

 

 

One inspects the inside of it's eyelids, while another tries stealing/playing with everything else.

 

Now for an unforeseen problem that has occurred from working from my working without any plans, and just fitting things together as I've been finding them.

The problem will likely result in me not using the lid on the PC part of the build, but instead just going with the beveled glass window for the top of the case.

If I use the lid, I will have to mount the monitor roughly 4" higher than I would if I don't use the lid.

This would put the monitor in a position that I would have to be looking up more than I prefer.

Doing without the lid would also allow me to use the lighting circuit for a keyboard light. 

 

 

Partial progress report for today.

 

This is part of the pile of parts that will become the upper hutch section of the Desk/Cabinet.

It consists of what's left from one of those Oak toilet tank topper cabinets.

 

 

I'll be cutting it down some both width, and height wise to better fit the lower "Ice Box" cabinet, and to keep the monitor at a reasonable height.

Here's a photo of what will be the hutch sides.

 

 

I've also been working on the pull out keyboard/trackball tray. I've got the slides mounted, and the mounting cleats attached.

The slides came from a cheap pressboard computer desk that was literally falling apart.

 

 

Here's a view of the tray in the pulled out position.

 

 

I'll be mounting another Oak shelf over this assembly, and then mounting the works to the cabinet top. The shelf I'll be using is just the right width to allow the hutch to sit on the "Ice Box" top, and allow mounting the hutch to the sides of the raised keyboard shelfs edge with brass screws.

Oil stain problem eliminated! 

 

I'll be posting more later, so until then. 

 

This afternoons progress report.

 

Not much to report other than I mounted the keyboard tray cleats to the shelf that covers it.

I couldn't get much more done due to the weather.

 

So here's a look at the keyboard tray and what will now be the top of the lower case set into place and in use.

 

 

As you can see this is not going to be a large desk/cabinet. The original oil stained top is only 22" wide by 16 1/4" deep.

The whole cabinet will be just big enough to house the PC, Monitor, and All In One Printer.

So I'm hoping for better outdoor working weather for tomorrow so I can get more accomplished.

 

Until next time. 

 

 

Any bad day doing something fun like this is still better than the best day at work.

Looking good...

3 minutes ago, Larry Buskirk said:

So I'm hoping for better outdoor working weather for tomorrow so I can get more accomplished.

Good luck with that...high maybe of mid 20's here if our sacrifice is accepted.